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Nellie Mighels Davis (née Verrill; September 10, 1844 – June 24, 1945) was a US civic leader and journalist. In 1897, she was the first woman to report a boxing prize fight ( Fitzsimmons/ Corbett) in the United States. She was also the first state president of the American Red Cross in Nevada, and an officer of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association

Biography

Nellie Verrill was born in Greenwood, Maine, on September 10, 1844. In 1866, she married Henry Rust Mighels, owner and editor of the Carson City Nevada Appeal. They had three sons and two daughters. In 1877 and 1879, Davis was the first woman to report on the state Legislature, which is located in Carson City. Their son, Henry R. Mighels Jr., eventually took over as editor of the Appeal in 1898. ^[1] Ella Sterling Mighels, ex-wife of their son Philip, was the "First Literary Historian of California".^{[ citation needed]}

Widowed at the age of 35, she hired Samuel Post Davis, of the Virginia Chronicle ^[1] as be her editor and she took the role of publisher. She married Davis in 1880, and he took over operations of the Nevada Appeal. They had two daughters. In 1897, she was the first woman to report a prize fight ( Fitzsimmons/ Corbett) as Nevada at the time was the only state in the US where prize fighting was legal. She was also the organizer and first state president of the American Red Cross in Nevada. ^[2] She was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City between her two husbands.^{[ citation needed]}

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